Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Season 3 Episode 1 “Confined” Recap & Review

Confined

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is back for its final season. Season 2 ended on both a somber and open-ended note. Keep reading for a refresher on the show, or scroll straight to the recap and/or review section to dive right into season 3. Spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 are below.

‘The Bad Batch’ in Star Wars is a group of clones with genetic mutations that give them an edge in battle. Hunter has increased perceptive abilities, Wrecker is extra strong, Tech is a tactical genius, and Crosshair has an impeccable aim. Echo is a special case, as he was a regular clone in the 501st (Anakin’s battalion), but was captured and experimented on during the Clone Wars. He now lives as a half-droid. They are accompanied by Omega, the last clone created and an ultra-rare female clone. She grows at a normal pace, like Boba Fett, while the rest of the clones all become adults in just a few short years.

The show chronicles their journey after Order 66, the fall of the Jedi, and the rise of the Empire. They struggle to survive, hiding in the shadows. Between odd jobs for seedy bar owner, Cid, they start to unravel imperial conspiracies sewn by emperor Palpatine. All the while, Omega grows and becomes closer to her clone brothers. Sadly, Crosshair’s ‘inhibitor chip’ (that turns clones into subservient drones) is activated, and he becomes bent on finding and killing the rest of the bad batch. During a seasons-long effort to rescue him, he slowly starts to snap out of his trance. Near the end of Season 2, Tech tragically but heroically sacrifices himself to save the others. Ultimately, Cid betrays the Bad Batch and the Empire Captures Omega.


“Confined” Recap

At the beginning of episode 1 of The Bad Batch season 3, an Imperial ship crashes near the facility where Omega has been imprisoned. Her handler, though, insists she is not a prisoner. She sees Crosshair in a hallway, but he’s too dejected to notice her. Omega’s handler, Emerie, is also a female clone. Emerie draws Omega’s blood for an unknown purpose.

The Kaminoan, Nala Se, discards Omega’s blood sample and urges her to keep this a secret. She reveals that the experiments are to reproduce midichlorians (M-count) in unknown test subjects. They have, thus far, been failures. Omega feeds angry hounds, then sneaks off to visit Crosshair. She’s eager to form an escape plan. Crosshair has given up hope on escaping and shoos her away. Using hay from the stables, Omega recreates the doll given to her by Wrecker.

Time marches on with the same routine. The attending droid won’t help Omega’s injured hound. Omega dresses its wound. Crosshair tells her to forget the hound, forget him, and escape alone, but she refuses. Troopers confiscate Omega’s doll during an inspection. Officer Hemlock puts pressure on Nala Se to deliver results for the emperor. Omega domesticated one of the hounds, so the droid decides to execute it. Omega kills the droid instead and sends her hound away.

Hemlock says that Omega has doomed her hound to death no matter what. Omega can see through his schemes; she knows that she’s only here to pressure Nala Se to comply. Hemlock threatens to kill Crosshair for her disobedience and confines her further. Emerie returns Omega’s doll, and her hound calls out from the wilderness.


The Episode Review

The final season of The Bad Batch kicks off with a deliberately slow, methodical, and dark beginning. Creator Dave Filoni is zeroing in on a singular tone across the timeline, and it’s all starting to echo the feeling of Andor. Both Ahsoka and The Bad Batch have turned towards a more gray, gritty, somber quality.

It may seem like very little happened in this episode. However, Filoni has steeped everything in subtle layers of meaning and connection. The cloning experiments related to “M-counts” start here chronologically, but it’s quickly becoming the framework for this entire new era of Star Wars. The clones themselves feel more central to the overall story than ever. It seems that Palpatine has intended to create force-sensitive clones since the beginning, ultimately serving his desire to clone himself and rule the galaxy.

The animation is impeccable. The sheer image quality is as high as it’s ever been and the compositions feel brooding and deliberate. This is a dark time in the galaxy, and everything from the music to the plot itself echoes that truth. Crosshair’s journey remains heartbreaking. It’s crushing to witness Omega lose her lively spirit.

The Bad Batch is aimed at kids, but still takes its time, relying more on mood than delivering immediate action. The emotional stakes are clear, present, and diverse. Omega struggles to keep the faith that Crosshair has already lost. Nala Se is the most nuanced Kaminoan ever shown, and Hemlock has the icy determination of Thrawn or Tarkin. The premiere has come in three parts, and this first episode has set the stage with obvious care and serious forethought.

 

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